[DesertRhino]

Booze in the old west, from 1870? No thanks. Every student of the old west knows that was hardcore rotgut

Much of the whiskey was locally produced, unaged, and low-quality, with 100-proof grain alcohol often watered down, and often mixed with ingredients like tobacco, red pepper, and molasses to improve flavor or color.

Most of them probably never experienced anything -even close- to what we would recognize as whisky today.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Don't forget the rattlesnake heads to give it "bite".

(No, I am not joking)

[jimtorr]

Depends on the town. If it was a gold/silver mining town, at or near peak production, the saloons would have imported the best booze in the world.

[alexander_busek]

[...] and often mixed with ingredients like tobacco, red pepper, and molasses to improve flavor or color.

More likely: To mask the awful taste of rotgut.

Regards,

[rxh4n1]

” often watered down”

Probably massively. If you read the accounts of the quantities they consumed, either they had a real resistance to alcohol poisoning, or the booze was severely watered down.

[MCF]

“often mixed with ingredients like tobacco, red pepper, and molasses to improve flavor or color.”
Yep, that was mountain man whiskey.